Is It Time to Jump?

"Is It Time to Jump?"

I'm scared of heights! That's right - I'm a "scaredy-cat" and I admit it! I don't even like getting up on a ladder to get up on my roof. The climb up is not quite so bad, but making that step off of the ladder and onto the roof drives me nuts!

As a matter of fact, yesterday afternoon I was watching an episode of "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery channel where the host was doing the job of changing a light bulb on a big bridge. He had to walk on a "cable" (looked more like a big pipe to me) all the way to the top of this suspension bridge to get to the bulb that needed to be changed. He started off around 200 feet above the water and I'm not sure how high he ended up but it was a LOT higher than when he started.

Here's the crazy part - I was just watching this on t.v. and I started breathing hard. My wife got tickled at me because I began to "pant" as I saw how high he was. Yup, I'm afraid of heights!

I love my sons. What? What does this have to do with what I'm talking about. If you have listened to the podcast, you probably already know where I'm going with this. If not, hang on a minute and you'll see the connection.

I am afraid of heights and I love my sons. What do you do when the two come together? Specifically, I'm talking about being on the lake with my 3 boys and them wanting to jump off of some cliffs and into the water. "C'mon dad, come with us!" Yikes!

So, what do I do? I try to find some cliffs that don't look too high so that I can still have fun with my sons without killing myself or giving myself a heart attack!

But here's the problem - the appearance of height is not the same from the boat as it is from the top of the cliff itself! Not by a long shot! The view from the top is a WHOLE lot different than from the safe confines of the boat below. Trust me on this.

So, again, what do I do? It's too late to chicken out. Remember, I'm afraid of heights, but I also love my boys and I love creating memories with them. (By the way, this is actually all in past tense since 2 of the 3 now have wives of their own and our youngest is about to graduate high school).

So...guess what? They are almost as terrified as I am. We all have discussions about who is going to jump first. This conversation always involves each volunteering SOMEONE ELSE to go first!

Then we do the countdown thing...everyone is going to jump on "3" right? WRONG! We count and no one jumps. We count again, same result.

Well, sooner or later one of the boys decides to jump and, honestly, I'm usually the last one standing and they are all waiting for me to jump. BUT REMEMBER? I'M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS!

But, I love my boys.

So, I jump!

Believe me, it wasn't easy and, although it got easier the 2nd and 3rd times (yeah, believe it or not, the thrill was so great I even did it again! Imagine that!) I still hesitated every time before making that jump.

Here's the point: You may be afraid to break the habit of "NO" and start living in the "YES!". But I hope you LOVE the idea of what awaits you if you decide to do so. I hope you love your LIFE more!

Again, saying and living in the "NO" is the easiest way to "exist" - it's not living, just existing. No challenges. No risks. No potential failure. But also, no reward and no life.

Don't let the F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real) keep you paralyzed where you are... love your life and your LIVING life in the "YES!" more and prepare to jump!

And, hey, as you do so...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike